The Da Vinci Code
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: May 19, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
24
Negative:
7
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
While the story plays better on the page than the screen and some of the film's elements work better than others, a proficient Ron Howard version of things is certainly competent if only occasionally thrilling. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The surprise, and disappointment, of The Da Vinci Code is how slipshod and hokey the religious detective story now seems. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The Da Vinci Code isn't terrible. Brown's novel presented its concepts seriously, as food for thought; Howard's glossy version is more of a snack, designed to be taken only slightly more seriously than "National Treasure," and with the much the same sense of a puzzle-based thrill ride. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The Da Vinci Code is so transparently pitched as pulp entertainment that, in the end, it's about as subversive as "Starsky and Hutch." Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman have conspired to drain any sense of fun out of the melodrama, leaving expectant audiences with an oppressively talky film that isn't exactly dull but comes as close to it as one could imagine with such provocative material. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
I certainly can't support any calls for boycotting or protesting this busy, trivial, inoffensive film. Which is not to say I'm recommending you go see it. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Ron Howard has taken an intriguing page-turner of a story and re-shaped it into a bloated wannabe epic. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Corliss
Howard and Goldsman have efficiently touched all the bases. But they haven't found a way to replicate the book's page-turning urgency. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
McKellen, Hanks and Tautou - and Alfred Molina, as a bishop with an agenda - are no slouches when it comes to emoting, but screenwriter Goldsman's rigorously faithful interpretation of Brown's flatfooted prose stylings is the filmic equivalent of putting big chewy baguettes in the actors' maws. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
This laborious, talky, fleetingly engaging, ultimately silly picture is about as good a movie as anyone was ever going to wring from Dan Brown's inescapable bestseller. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyGreg Burk
Action and ideas -- they get in each other's way, pal. And director Ron Howard didn't want to choose between 'em. Good impulse, not such a good result. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The most controversial thriller of the year turns out to be about as exciting as watching your parents play Sudoku. Read full review
50
PremiereJessica Letkemann
At root, novelist Dan Brown’s story is an entertaining one--whether you believe any of these ideas are real or not. And in the end, it’s that standard movie trope (good guys must solve dire puzzle while bad guys give chase) that makes The Da Vinci Code an okay film. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
There are reversals of expectation, miraculous escapes from certain doom -- all the things that make thrillers thrilling. But The Da Vinci Code isn't thrilling. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Given the silliness of the source material, The Da Vinci Code stood little chance of being a great film, but it could easily have been a fun one. Instead, Howard takes a strangely respectful approach to the overheated mysticism of the novel, turning the film into that most boring of genres: the pious blockbuster. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Lacks suspense, momentum and visual panache. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Disappointingly tame. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Only McKellan seems to understand the profound silliness of the film in which he finds himself, and he camps it up accordingly. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
An acceptable but uninspired simulacrum: an overly faithful multiplex translation of a very, very popular airport novel. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) pelts the viewer with so many factoids and allegations about the early Catholic church, goddess worship, the Crusades, painting, cartography, and code-breaking that the movie's big revelation turns out to be neither grand nor shocking. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The screenplay is at the start far from lucid in setting forth characters and relationships and intents. And after the film has been barreling along for two hours of its 148-minute journey, it seems to have lost the ability to finish. Three or four times in the last half-hour, I thought the film was over, only to be jarred by more of it. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Da Vinci never rises to the level of a guilty pleasure. Too much guilt. Not enough pleasure. Read full review
40
EmpireIan Freer
One of the most talk driven summer flicks in living memory, an out of sorts Howard transforms what should be a fun treasure trail romp into something inert and borderline dreary. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Overshadowed by its own marketing hurricane and popular rage, Code struggles for significance as a movie experience and flies a weak flag as a provocation. Read full review
More From This Movie

46 Critic Reviews

6.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 82 The Northman
2 81 Everything Everywhere All at Once
3 72 Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie
4 72 7 Days
5 67 The Unbearable Weight of Massive...
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL